
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC459b-4]

 
                         TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
 
   CHAPTER 1--NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES
 
         SUBCHAPTER LXIII--NATIONAL SEASHORE RECREATIONAL AREAS
 
Sec. 459b-4. Zoning regulations


(a) Standards for approval; submission to Congress and municipalities; 
        publication in Federal Register; approval of local bylaws; 
        revocation of approval

    As soon after August 7, 1961, as may be practicable, the Secretary 
shall issue regulations specifying standards for approval by him of 
zoning bylaws for purposes of section 459b-3 of this title. The 
Secretary may issue amended regulations specifying standards for 
approval by him of zoning bylaws whenever he shall consider such amended 
regulations to be desirable due to changed or unforeseen conditions.
    All regulations and amended regulations proposed to be issued under 
authority of the two preceding sentences of this subsection shall be 
submitted to the Congress and to the towns named in section 459b of this 
title at least ninety calendar days (which ninety days, however, shall 
not include days on which either the House of Representatives or the 
Senate is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three 
calendar days to a day certain) before they become effective and the 
Secretary shall, before promulgating any such proposed regulations or 
amended regulations in final form, take due account of any suggestions 
for their modification which he may receive during said ninety-day 
period. All such regulations and amended regulations shall, both in 
their proposed form and in their final form, be published in the Federal 
Register.
    The Secretary shall approve any zoning bylaw and any amendment to 
any approved zoning bylaws submitted to him which conforms to the 
standards contained in the regulations in effect at the time of the 
adoption by the town of such bylaw or such amendment unless before the 
time of adoption he has submitted to the Congress and the towns and 
published in the Federal Register as aforesaid proposed amended 
regulations with which the bylaw or amendment would not be in 
conformity, in which case he may withhold his approval pending 
completion of the review and final publication provided for in this 
subsection and shall thereafter approve the bylaw or amendment only if 
it is in conformity with the amended regulations in their final form. 
Such approval shall not be withdrawn or revoked, nor shall its effect be 
altered for purposes of section 459b-3 of this title by issuance of any 
such amended regulations after the date of such approval, so long as 
such bylaw or such amendment remains in effect as approved.

(b) Commercial and industrial use prohibition; acreage, frontage, 
        setback and miscellaneous requirements

    The standards specified in such regulations and amended regulations 
for approval of any zoning bylaw or zoning bylaw amendment shall 
contribute to the effect of (1) prohibiting the commercial and 
industrial use, other than any commercial or industrial use which is 
permitted by the Secretary, of all property within the boundaries of the 
seashore which is situated within the town adopting such bylaw; and (2) 
promoting the preservation and development, in accordance with the 
purposes of sections 459b to 459b-8 of this title, of the area 
comprising the seashore, by means of acreage, frontage, and setback 
requirements and other provisions which may be required by such 
regulations to be included in a zoning bylaw consistent with the laws of 
Massachusetts.

(c) Adverse provisions and absence of notice for variance as requiring 
        disapproval of local bylaws

    No zoning bylaw or amendment of a zoning bylaw shall be approved by 
the Secretary which (1) contains any provision which he may consider 
adverse to the preservation and development, in accordance with the 
purposes of sections 459b to 459b-8 of this title, of the area 
comprising the seashore, or (2) fails to have the effect of providing 
that the Secretary shall receive notice of any variance granted under 
and any exception made to the application of such bylaw or amendment.

(d) Termination of suspension of authority for acquisition by 
        condemnation because of nonconforming variances and uses; 
        agreements concerning exercise of authority

    If any improved property with respect to which the Secretary's 
authority to acquire by condemnation has been suspended by reason of the 
adoption and approval, in accordance with the foregoing provisions of 
this section, of a zoning bylaw applicable to such property (hereinafter 
referred to as ``such bylaw'')--
        (1) is made the subject of a variance under or an exception to 
    such bylaw, which variance or exception fails to conform or is in 
    any manner opposed to or inconsistent with any applicable standard 
    contained in the regulations issued pursuant to this section and in 
    effect at the time of the passage of such bylaw, or
        (2) is property upon or with respect to which there occurs any 
    use, commencing after the date of the publication by the Secretary 
    of such regulations, which fails to conform or is in any manner 
    opposed to or inconsistent with any applicable standard contained in 
    such regulations (but no use which is in conformity with the 
    provisions of such bylaw shall be held to fail to conform or be 
    opposed to or inconsistent with any such standard),

the Secretary may, at any time and in his discretion, terminate the 
suspension of his authority to acquire such improved property by 
condemnation: Provided, however, That the Secretary may agree with the 
owner or owners of such property to refrain from the exercise of the 
said authority during such time and upon such terms and conditions as 
the Secretary may deem to be in the best interests of the development 
and preservation of the seashore.

(Pub. L. 87-126, Sec. 5, Aug. 7, 1961, 75 Stat. 290.)

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 459b-1 to 459b-3, 459b-5 to 
459b-8 of this title.
